The latest news about Ana!

Sabrina: Hey Ana! I really enjoy watching you play, and I had a lot of fun watching your match against Elena Dementieva because you two are my favorite players! I was wondering: Do you get nervous before matches, and if so how do you handle your nerves and not let them hurt your game?

Alex: Ana, you have spoken in the past of your high regard for men's world # 1 Roger Federer. Have you ever had the chance to speak with him?
Ana: Hi Alex. We had a chance to talk a little bit in Melbourne this year. He’s a great guy. It was great because some time ago I was admiring him, he was a big star for me and then I was chatting to him like a friend! We talked about tennis, practice and things like that. Regards, Ana.

Keith: Hey Ana, In your short but highly successful career, is there one particular match that is your favorite?

Ana had an ultrasound scan after retiring through injury against Na Li this afternoon. The results are encouraging: she did not pull the muscle in her left thigh, instead it appears to be a slight tear. That Ana retired when she did, rather than attempt to finish the match, which she was leading 6-1, was crucial to not worsening the injury.

Ana was forced to retire while leading Na Li 6-1 in the first round of the Qatar Telecom German Open. The 18-year-old injured her left thigh, which required strapping late in the first set.

It was a desperately unfortunate turn of events for Ana, who was dominating her opponent, hammering winners off both wings.

The opening two games were shared, but thereafter Ana stormed ahead of the Chinese, overwhelming the 24-year-old, who was runner-up in Estoril last week, with her sheer aggression. She also served very strongly and won several points at the net.

Ana remains at No.20 in the latest Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings, which are published today. However, her points tally has increased, thanks to her quarter-final appearance in last week's J&S Cup in Warsaw.

Furthermore, Ana rises six places in the Porsche Race to No.17. Her doubles ranking also goes up 14 places to No.84, after she and Maria Kirilenko reached the semi-finals in Poland.

The main change inside the singles top 10 sees Justine Henin-Hardenne go from No.5 to No.7.

Ana has been drawn to play China’s Na Li in the first round of the Qatar Telecom German Open, which begins on Monday. It will be Ana’s first meeting with the world No.70, who was runner-up in this week’s Estoril Open.

Ana put the disappointment of a quarter-final defeat to Anna Chakvetadze behind her by teaming up with Maria Kirilenko for an impressive doubles win.

The teenage pairing beat Iveta Benesova and Michaella Krajicek 6-2, 6-3 to move into the last four of the J&S Cup.

Tomorrow's match, against Russian third seeds Elena Likhovtseva and Anastasia Myskina, will be the second successive time Ana and Maria have played a doubles semi-final together. The pair reached the same stage in the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo three months ago.

Ana lost her J&S Cup quarter-final against Anna Chakvetadze. The world No.34 triumphed 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in a topsy-turvy match.

Ana began where she had left off against Patty Schynder in the previous round and raced into a 4-1 lead.

Though Ana wrapped up the opening set, her level began to drop, perhaps inevitably after the excitement of yesterday's win. The Russian's confidence soared as she began to find the corners of the court.

From 2-1 behind in the second set, Chakvetadze reeled off seven straight games to move 2-0 ahead in the deciding set.

Ana's J&S Cup quarter-final against Anna Chakvetadze has been scheduled as the second match on the Central Court on Friday. It is expected to begin sometime after 1pm Central European time.

Ana has played Chakvetadze three times before, most recently in Indian Wells two months ago, when she triumphed 6-3, 6-3. Ana also won their other two meetings, on hard courts in the Batumi tournament on the ITF Women's Circuit, and on clay in Rome last year.

We are hoping to bring you live game-by-game commentary of the match on this website. It will be televised live on Eurosport.